Donatella Versace, born in Italy in 1955, is a well-known fashion designer.
Youngest of four siblings, she grew close to her brother, Gianni Versace, who moved to Milan in 1972 to start a fashion career.
Although Donatella initially studied to be a teacher, she frequently assisted Gianni, offering valuable feedback.
When Gianni Versace SpA began in 1978, Donatella was its vice president, contributing creatively while also managing her own lines, Young Versace and Versus.
Tragedy struck in 1997 when Gianni was murdered. After his death, Donatella took over as chief designer and vice president, also owning 20% of the company.
She expanded the brand globally, collaborating with celebrities. She also led the brand’s design evolution, creating iconic pieces like Jennifer Lopez’s green Grammy dress.
Donatella played a key role in Versace’s business ventures, like collaborating with Lamborghini and H&M and entering the hotel industry.
Though the company saw ownership shifts, including a $2 billion acquisition by Michael Kors Holdings, Donatella remained a central figure.
Here is a collection of the top quotes by Donatella Versace.
Donatella Versace Quotes
Fashion is not frivolous. ~ Donatella Versace.
I like perfume and flowers. ~ Donatella Versace.
I don’t like my physique at all. ~ Donatella Versace.
Hollywood is a very inspiring place. ~ Donatella Versace.
For me, music gives a voice to fashion. ~ Donatella Versace.
Creativity comes from a conflict of ideas. ~ Donatella Versace.
In fashion, only sexy won’t go out of fashion. ~ Donatella Versace.
Fashion is a weapon that you can use when you need it. ~ Donatella Versace.
Fashion is about dreaming and making other people dream. ~ Donatella Versace.
Best Donatella Versace Quotes
New York is full of creative people, not only in fashion. ~ Donatella Versace.
We all retire one day. If we want to, if we don’t want to. ~ Donatella Versace.
On a hanger, no dress is sexy. It’s just fabric on a hanger. ~ Donatella Versace.
Gianni created the whole thing. I came later and helped him. ~ Donatella Versace.
I always wear high heels – I simply feel naked without them. ~ Donatella Versace.
I have long been a fan and enthusiast where art is concerned. ~ Donatella Versace.
In Italian there is an expression: We don’t sleep on the fame. ~ Donatella Versace.
In my life I had no other choice than to become a strong person. ~ Donatella Versace.
In order to be responsible, you need some discipline in your life. ~ Donatella Versace.
Famous Donatella Versace Quotes
Die and born again, die and born again. It’s the story of my life. ~ Donatella Versace.
A business woman needs a successful mix of design and practicality. ~ Donatella Versace.
For me the safety pin is about rebellion, and I’m punk in the soul. ~ Donatella Versace.
I know who the Versace woman is, because I wear the clothes myself. ~ Donatella Versace.
My style is not that big. I wear heels, tight pants, and I wear diamonds. ~ Donatella Versace.
The man of the millennium is much more liberated than the man of the ’90s. ~ Donatella Versace.
Fashion needs fresh blood, and London is the most creative place for that. ~ Donatella Versace.
I’ve learned how to appreciate what I have. And it’s a lot. I’m very lucky. ~ Donatella Versace.
I don’t like balance. Balance is not a word you can use in Versace fashion. ~ Donatella Versace.
During the eighties and nineties, people wanted to be chic, elegant, bourgeois. ~ Donatella Versace.
Fashion is all about happiness. It’s fun. It’s important. But it’s not medicine. ~ Donatella Versace.
How do I keep young? Haven’t you heard? I sleep every night in the deep freezer! ~ Donatella Versace.
Great Donatella Versace Quotes
The body should be reconfigured by the clothes, never again the other way round. ~ Donatella Versace.
I think people need to see Prince live to really understand how remarkable he is. ~ Donatella Versace.
I love Alexander McQueen. I like the construction of his suits. I think it’s fantastic. ~ Donatella Versace.
Something has to change in the world. Without change, young people will have no future. ~ Donatella Versace.
I think glamour all the time. I wake up in the morning and I’m already thinking glamour. ~ Donatella Versace.
I wake up at about the same time every day. I sleep well and wake without an alarm clock. ~ Donatella Versace.
I find older men more attractive than boys. I need a man who can teach me a thing or two. ~ Donatella Versace.
It’s no good being too easily swayed by people’s opinions. You have to believe in yourself. ~ Donatella Versace.
In order to be responsible, you need some discipline in your life. For a while I lost mine. ~ Donatella Versace.
To define the era we live in is very difficult. How do we define it? We define it by music. ~ Donatella Versace.
Richard Avedon is a true genius of photography and one of the greatest artists of our time. ~ Donatella Versace.
Sometimes big designers are afraid that people won’t recognize them if they change that much. ~ Donatella Versace.
I love anyone who breaks the rules, and musicians always break the rules – in an aggressive way. ~ Donatella Versace.
I think my own look makes people think I’m tough, but when they get to know me I’m very different. ~ Donatella Versace.
Inspiring Donatella Versace Quotes
You can have small moments of happiness in life. You certainly can’t expect years and years of it. ~ Donatella Versace.
I think there was a time when I was too strict and controlling. I think I asphyxiated my children. ~ Donatella Versace.
I was a fashion addict by the time I was 11 years old. I’d wear a miniskirt and patent-leather boots. ~ Donatella Versace.
Many young people don’t know what Versace represent. I want to show what makes Versace an iconic brand. ~ Donatella Versace.
Let’s just say beauty inspires me. But I like all beauty – I think it really comes from the inside out. ~ Donatella Versace.
The three biggest fashion mistakes are cheap suits, shoes, and shirts. Spend your money on something good. ~ Donatella Versace.
I like to eat. Definitely. I love sitting around a table with my friends. But I don’t know how to cook anything. ~ Donatella Versace.
Elegance is always in style for men. There are all different kinds of elegance. It can be silk, it can be a T-shirt. ~ Donatella Versace.
Lady Gaga is the present and the future. She is the most revolutionary and inspirational artist. She is fearless and daring. ~ Donatella Versace.
As with most things in my life, I believe you should try to enjoy yourself and never feel like you are a slave to a routine. ~ Donatella Versace.
I understand that the rule of fashion is to change, even as a successful designer – you do not want to be stuck in the same rut. ~ Donatella Versace.
Profound Donatella Versace Quotes
When I meet celebrities, I have to know what they are like and only then can I design. The clothes have to fit their personality. ~ Donatella Versace.
I think men know to seduce women though words and conversation and nice gestures. That’s much sexier than when a man uses muscle. ~ Donatella Versace.
The suit does not represent the businessman anymore. Nor does the loud shirt represent the rock star. The same man can now wear both. ~ Donatella Versace.
I studied at a university in Florence and finished my degree. My mother was very strict about this recipe: You need to get your degree. ~ Donatella Versace.
Powerful women intimidate men. If she’s a really well-known woman, she has a career, she’s famous – in that case, men are really afraid. ~ Donatella Versace.
My muse changes all the time because I think every designer is a bit of a muse for themselves in a way – they just don’t want to say it. ~ Donatella Versace.
For so long Versace couture was identified with celebrities and music, which I love. But at the same time it could overwhelm the clothes. ~ Donatella Versace.
I do think that exercise is important, not only to keep you in shape but also for your state of mind. However, I am not fanatical about it. ~ Donatella Versace.
Women are all the same; we want to be smaller in the waist, longer legs, slimmer. I design for women and their defects, to make them better. ~ Donatella Versace.
It’s very important for a brand to have an identity through the years, but it’s very important as well to evolve because times change so fast. ~ Donatella Versace.
Powerful Donatella Versace Quotes
You can’t pretend that everybody likes Versace. It would be boring. It’s better to create a reaction than to create no reaction. That’s dangerous. ~ Donatella Versace.
It would be very easy for us to do a collection that everybody would like and not criticize. But criticism is a part of life. You have to take it. ~ Donatella Versace.
Scent is very important. Strong fragrances suit some men, while citrus types suit others. I like my men to smell fresh and woody, but also like a man. ~ Donatella Versace.
I’m a feminist. I want to fight, but I don’t see many people with this desire to fight for something. Women don’t help each other, especially in fashion. ~ Donatella Versace.
At that time of the supermodels, celebrities didn’t want to be in fashion; they thought they were more intellectual and interesting than anyone in fashion. ~ Donatella Versace.
To be Catholic puts a lot of fear in you. It’s a great religion, but also one that can limit your experience. You fear experience because everything is a sin. ~ Donatella Versace.
Women should be sure of themselves because women have a lot of capacities. We can achieve so many different things that men cannot. I think women are stronger. ~ Donatella Versace.
I have an image of what a British gentleman looks like, and that image finds real expression in Prince Charles. He is beyond fashion – he is an archetype of style. ~ Donatella Versace.
People are always surprised when they spend time with my children by how normal they are. They’re polite. They’re well mannered. They’re very down to earth, in a way. ~ Donatella Versace.
In fashion, women have more sensitivity, more sense of the body, so they know how things fit and feel. Yet there are not many women who study fashion. It’s ridiculous. ~ Donatella Versace.
Motivational Donatella Versace Quotes
In mythology, the Medusa can petrify people with a look – which is a good thing, I think. But the Medusa is a unique symbol – something strong. It’s about going all the way. ~ Donatella Versace.
Showing your femininity should help your career and not go against your career. Dressing like a man, using the suit to look powerful – that was the ’80s, and that didn’t help women. ~ Donatella Versace.
If I could dress anyone, I’d like to dress the Queen – she can handle anything. I’d put her in black – she never wears black – and add a little leather, maybe. A little rock n’ roll. ~ Donatella Versace.
I don’t even know what my natural colour is. Natural? What is natural? What is that? I do not believe in totally natural for women. For me, natural has something to do with vegetables. ~ Donatella Versace.
I’m a designer, and I work very hard at that. People sometimes want to put down fashion by saying it’s frivolous or superficial, but it’s not that way at all. It’s actually very hard work. ~ Donatella Versace.
When my mother did fittings for her clients, I was hiding, looking at these beautiful ladies try on these fantastic clothes. I was dreaming as a small child to try these clothes on myself. ~ Donatella Versace.
I have worked with wool all my life as a designer. There’s so much more to it than knitwear – it’s an amazingly versatile material and can be used in so many different ways from chic to rustic. ~ Donatella Versace.
Some say the economy means that you have to persuade people to invest in clothes – to buy less things but more expensive things. I disagree – invest in jewelry, or a house, maybe, but not in fashion. ~ Donatella Versace.
Some men look great unshaven; others just look like they forgot to shave. Beards and mustaches can be really distinctive if you go for an earthy, rock-and-roll look like the Kings of Leon or the Killers. ~ Donatella Versace.
I’m like a little kid when it comes to music. I mean, the music is always blasting wherever I am that people always knock on my door and say, ‘It’s too loud!’ But I think music gives so much inspiration. ~ Donatella Versace.
I love the mix of people who hang out at nightclubs now. Their individuality is an inspiration to me. The music they listen to, the clothes they wear and the way they wear them defines a street style that I love. ~ Donatella Versace.
You can never forget the time you’re living in because the past is the past and it will never come back. So to adjust your philosophy and creativity in fashion to the time you’re living in is the most important thing. ~ Donatella Versace.
